1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a printer and a copying machine including a periodic replacement part detachably mounted at the main body thereof and a replacement part used therefor in which a storage medium holding information on a replacement part is stored in the main body of the replacement part, and the information on the replacement part is used for controlling the main body of the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in the image forming apparatus such as a printer and a copying machine as described above, there has been a general tendency to input information on a replacement part such as a toner cartridge to the main body of the apparatus and control the apparatus based on the input information in order to better the commercial value of the apparatus to improve the operability. For example, according to a practiced technique, in a network printer connected with a personal computer, information on the toner remaining amount of a toner cartridge, for example, is input to the printer main body. The input information is transmitted to a host computer, and the toner remaining amount is displayed at the monitor of a user interface for the host computer, so that the user can readily know the time to exchange the toner cartridge.
Also in the image forming apparatus such as a printer and a copying machine as described above, information on replacement parts such as a toner cartridge is input to the main body of the apparatus so that various replacement parts are identified from one another or kinds of toner in the toner cartridges are identified from one another.
As a method of inputting such information on a replacement part to the apparatus main body as described above and controlling the apparatus based on the input information, a replacement part such as a toner cartridge may be provided with a storage medium which can be used for information transmission to the main body of the apparatus.
A drawer connector is generally used as a conventional coupling device for transmitting information between the recording medium provided at a replacement part such as a toner cartridge as described above and the main body of the apparatus. This is because the drawer connector can be electrically connected in association with the mounting of the replacement part.
The conventional technique described above, however, suffers from the following disadvantages.                1) The drawer connector is connected in one direction and therefore the direction of connecting the replacement part is restricted. For example, a toner cartridge is typically inserted in the axial direction of the apparatus main body, then turned by a prescribed angle and set. However, it would not be possible to connect the drawer connector by such operation in view of the structure because the drawer connector is basically connected in one direction.        2) The drawer connector requires certain force for connection, which could impair the operability of the replacement part. The drawer connector should be operated with different kinds of force for different parts, and the user might prematurely judge that the mounting is complete when the replacement part is not completely mounted, in other words, a mounting fault could result.        3) If toner or the like sticks to the connecting portion of the drawer connector, a connection fault could be caused.        4) When there are multiple replacement parts in an image forming apparatus, a drawer connector for each part is necessary, which increases the size and cost of the device.        5) The recording medium provided at a replacement part to be connected using a drawer connector cannot be reduced in size as the result of using the drawer connector. The drawer connector used should have about six to ten pins, in other words the drawer connector is large in size, which increases the size and cost of replacement parts.        6) If a replacement part such as a toner cartridge is attached to a rotating body in a rotary developing device, the rotating part and the stationary part must be electrically connected, and therefore the reliability at the contact of the rotary part and the stationary part is low.        